SOUTHERN CITY QUARTER 2 2022 14 ARP CORNER The American Rescue Plan in Action The American Rescue Plan offers a generational opportunity for our municipalities, not just to recover from the pandemic, but to thrive well into the future. It is this forward-looking aspect of the ARP that is most consequential. How best can we utilize this money to create a lasting impact? All across North Carolina, cities and towns are developing plans and programs specifically geared towards this question, and history shows us that these projects will be successful. When our municipalities receive financial support, they achieve substantial successes. Cities get the job done. This ongoing series will showcase those projects, plans, and transformational investments, both to highlight the end-to-end impressive work of our municipalities and to share best practices with other cities and towns. WILSON MAKES FAR-REACHING INVESTMENTS TOWARDS LONG-TERM TRANSFORMATION Wilson, NC Population: 47,851 Funds Received: $15.7 million Plan •Kenan & Jackson Street water, sewer, and storm drain improvements •Sewer outfall repair •RIDE transit expansion •Housing redevelopment •Commercial redevelopment •Gig East programs •Demolition of substandard structures •Splash pad at Reid Street Community Center •Wiggins Mill Reservoir Park renovation •Public Safety Video Analytics software •Employee vaccine incentive reimbursement Strategy •Touch every corner of the city by funding numerous categories of investment: community development, economic development and entrepreneurship, infrastructure, housing, transit, and public spaces. •Utilize recently completed strategic plans to receive input and understand community need. •Be consistent with existing priorities, but with now expedited timelines and greater levels of investment. •Use money to create stability in innovative programs, such as Gig East. •Focus on underserved communities. Wilson is experienced in pursuing new ideas to serve the community. That mission has been on clear display over the past decades, seen through both their thoughtful investments and innovative offerings of public amenities. By way of a public park, they sparked a downtown renaissance; by leveraging investments and partnerships, they developed a burgeoning innovation economy. It’s not by accident, but rather through the work of local leaders that some have called Wilson “the next innovation hub in North Carolina.” With that foundation firmly established, the American Rescue Plan’s influx of support offers an unprecedented opportunity to Wilson. They’re taking full advantage. “This accelerates our ability to meet the demand and requests of both the people living here and the people coming here,” said Wilson’s Communications and Marketing Rebecca Agner. “I see it really helping us focus and make sure that we are on track to have the quality-of-life amenities and stay ahead of the demands that we’re seeing here.” Wilson’s investments touch every corner of town, and they begin with the focus intended by the American Rescue Plan (ARP): to support the economic recovery of communities most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The housing programs will address substandard structures in many low-income neighborhoods, the transit expansion aims to reduce transportation barriers for the city’s residents, and the commercial redevelopment project—while not in a designated census tract—sits across the street from one, so it will have a runoff positive effect for those neighborhoods as well as the city as a whole.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTY1NDIzOQ==